Gas purification process and apparatus



Jan. 19, 1932. A w, SPERR' JR 1,841,421

GAS PURIFICATION PROCESS AND APPARATUS Filed Feb. 19. 1927 INVENTOR fi eaer/ck W-SperrJn ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 19, 1932 A .menemcx w. SPERR; an forirlrrmsnnnerfryianirnsYnv inra,-jiissreiron TOYTZHE t K P R AN 2+ memflwie :D I AWA E eras PIITEEFICQTION, rnocnssnnn humans 5 Applicationfi1ed 'Februa 1'y 19, 193; se iakmr senaigl l Q This invention relates tothe purification of;

' gas, more particularly'generator gases, such aswater ga's, oil gas, andthe'1ike,fby remov ing therefrom hydrogen'sulphide, hydrogen -1 cyanide and analogousacidic impurities. My

ratus ordinarily employed for'other' purposes in the manufacture. of the same, Without in v terrupting orinterfe'ring with theacco'm-t 2'0 plishment oi'i'such purposes. r ,l A process of, fixing'the impurities of -;fuel

-, gas asalliali thiosulphate or thiocyanate-by-r washinggas with an alkaline solutioncon- 'taining amounts of: cobalt, nickelQjoriron ".25 sulphide less than those required for the lib- .eration of free sulphur uponaeration' of said solution is describedand claimed in*my' copending application for Letters-Patent,'

Serial No; 124,556,- filed- .1111 2%, 1926.,

.30 In the present inventi0n,-I' apply 'theprocess of said application'tothe purification of Water gas .by substituting awsolution of the character indicated for'theifwash watercom V V monly' employed for tar removal inthetreat 3 ment of Water gas. This solution is eirculated through the Wash box or tar batterand V I paratus for the removalof tarry matter; and a w the recirculating tank injthe usual ;manne r. A1 1 absorption of the gaseous impurities {is eifected in thewash'box and the fouled solu tion isthen conducted to the recirculating tank which is equipped in the usualqmanner With suitable ha-fies for separating any 'tar entrained by the solution. In o'rdertocoin l I r plete the fixation of. absorbed 'i1npi1rities;'I provide aerating means. in hat is known as the clean Water end of the recirculating tank.

Such means preferably consist of a, plurality .of aerators or diffusers which mayea'sily be installed at a comparatively small expense.

' 59 In order that my inventionrmaybe'clearly section "and vhas been :maintained within "the-"Wash-box, the waterlev' el being regulated by a lsealsuppliedito thewash-box through ,aspray g with reference to the accompanying draw-.

ings,tthepreferredl manner inwhichmy in= I vention is perff ormed ln. the: drawings, I v Figure l s anelevat onal view of appara.- '55,;

tus for manufacturing Water. gas for}; ash? ingl thegaswith a liquid and for treating the v liquid infreoircul'ation; partsbeing shown in f ig-121 Pl et a; 1 iQn,. f i recirculating tank ofFig. 1;. r- S'n ilarpharacters of rel" rence designate similar;parts in eaclrof the several viewsoi" the drawings;

1 Referring to- Figsfl 2 ,rit is r that Water 'gas isjblei-ngg manufactured: in a nl, f ca bur t e z 2;? a 'di s e heater g3,inftheusual 'manner. which need 'njot be described herein. The gasfmad'egduring the, run period fiovvsi'through aconduite into' va ar b t rl or l' heb X. 510i the us a type Inprior Water-gasmanufacture,'the func r tion of the'vvash-box has been tyvo iold first, 'toyprovid-e a seal against-readmission, of the valuable gas to -the superheater, duringpe riods' when: products ofjconibustionwere be ,1 i

ing passed through the latter, and, second-to effecta preliminarywashing;coolingandtar removal; For this purpose, a body of'water i regulating device of welleknown character, suchas. that shownat 6 Clean waterwas systenisimilar to the spraysystem 7 andthe' overflowiwas passedithroughseparating-ap returned toythe wash-box'ior-further use. i o

InJthe present instance, I replace the wa'ter solutionoffroin .1 tog2.5'%fof sodium carbon ate.giconta-ining up to5 ().01l% of nickel orsf tem" 7,- and] comes into contact with the gas which flows throughlthewash-boxandab: I

sorhs hydrogen sulphide "and hydrogen'ymd 1 cyanide"there:from. These impurities "are or ordinarily=supplied'to tthe wash-box with a, 1 i

7 initially absorbed as either sodium hydrosulphide or sodium cyanide, or both. The

presence of the metallic compounds efi'ects the conversion of the former to fixed salts, i. e., sodium thiosulphate, while the sodium cyanide reacts to sodium thiocyanate; I assist this conversion by removingthe foul solution from contact with the gas and aerating it in the manner which will now be described.

The foul solution passes through ac'onduit 8 by gravity and enters one end of a recirculating tank 9. This tank-is preferably rectangular in shape and may be about 7 5' feet long, when used in the manufacture "of carburetted water gas. It is providedwith a plurality of vertical baflies 10 whichcausea tortuous flow of the solution and thereby effect a gravity separation of tar and tarry matter in general. The solution after having been freed from substantially all'of its tar content 'by traversing the tank -9, passes through a pair of conduits 11 disposed in the manner shown in the drawings into a clean water compartment 12. By means of a series of parallel vertical baffles, 13, I subdivide the compartment 12 int'o' a number of communicating passages. Within, and nearthe bottom of each of these passages'is "situated one or more porous aerators 14 supplied with compressed air from an air line 15.

" The preferred type-of aerator is that shown and described in'the copending application of Gilbert E. V Seil, :Serial No. 21,978, filed April 9, 1925, but other aerators may be used. ;By means of finely comminuted air, introduced through the aerators 14, the conversion of intermediate products in the recirculating solution is completed. 7

' Additions of fresh alkali and metallic com-' pound are made as often as necessary by adding these materials to the solution in compartment 12 or elsewhere, as convenient. The appearance of a sulphur foam is an indication that an excess of metallic compound has and thiocyanate in the circulating solution reaches a'predeterniin'ed point as specified 7 in my copen'ding applicatiom-poitions of the stituents or liquid in circulation may be withdrawn through a conduit 19 for recovery of can:

tion;

A consideration whichis-peculiar to the present invention lies in the fact thatth'etar must-be separated from the alkaline solution by gravity. In ordinary water-gas practice,

the tar, having a specific. gravity, of about for any other suitable disposi- 1.09, is heavier than the wash water, and sinks in the latter, being Withdrawn from the bottom of the tar separator. In practicing my invention, care should be taken to avoid having the specific gravity of the alkaline solution equalfor nearly equal to that of the tan The-problem may be solved in either of two ways, first, by limiting the concentration of salts in the solution to such point as to keep thespecific gravity of the solution below 1.09, the'specific gravity of the tar, or,

; second, by allowing the salts in the solution to accumulate to such an extent as to raise the specific gravity of the solution to above that of thetar. In thefirst instance, the tar sinks andiis drawn Off from the bottom of the separator; in the second instance, the tar floats, and is withdrawn from the surface of th solution in the separator.

Although I have described my invention with reference to the purification of carburetted water gas, it is not limited'to such use, but may also be applied to blue water gas, to oil gas, such as made by the wellknown Jones process, or to other generator gases. In'fact, my invention isparticularly easily-accomplished in the treatment of oil gas, inthat the separation of tar, and the attendant difficulties, such as the regulation of the specific gravity of the solution, is av'oid'edin such processes. It may further .be'noted that, in water gas processes involving'the'u'se of bituminous coal as fuel, my process has an especial utility in completely removing the hydrogen cyanide which is evolved in larger quantitiesthan in normal operation with coke as generator fuel;

It will be seen from the foregoing description that I accomplish an effective purification of'water gas in apparatus which is normally provided in a' water-gas plant and which is'o'nly slightly modified. The usual functions of this apparatus are in no way interfered withand the obvious advantages of" an immediate' 'purificationof the water gas are realizedat slight expense.

It is notexpected that a complete purification of the water gas will always be accomplished in this way, and further purification means such as iron foxide boxes or a liquid purification system may be required to complete the purification. of gas. However, the employment of my present invention makes it possible to construct such subsequent purification apparatus on a much smaller scale and to operate it at greatly reduced expenses and thiscons titutes an advantage of my invention'. r o

While I have described, my invention in reference to aparticularembodiinent and procedure, I do not intend to limit it to such specific illustrative example, but it may be variously embodied andpracticed within the a scope of the following claims.

lbs

entirely convert absorbed acidic impurities V to fixed soluble compounds;

p 3. The process of removing tar and acidic impurities from water gas which comprises washing the gas lmmedlately after it leaves s the superheater with an alkaline absorbent liquid.

cycle comprising said batter and said aeration means'and tar-separating means in the pathof said liquid" from said tar batter g I tosaid aeration means.

In testimony whereof, have' hereunto s subscribed my namev this seventeenth '(1'7) day of February, 1927.v

FREDERICK 1 {sPER-n, R;

4. In a process of treating generator gas,

the step which consistsin adding to the wash water employed in the tar batter suflioient alkali and catalyst'to cause absorption and fixation of hydrogen sulphide without liber I ation of'free sulphur..-

5. In a process of purifying generator gas, in a the step which comprises effecting an. absorption and fixation of hydrogen sulphide and" hydrogen cyanide in the wash liquid reoircu Y lating system.

6. The process of purifying generatorgas I c from volatile impurities which-comprises washing the gasQin the tar batter with an alkaline absorbentsolution, specificgravity of which differs from that of the tar removed from the gas.

7. The process of purifying' watergas w from volatile impurities whichi comprises washing the gas in the tar batter with an alkalineabsorbent solution the specific grav ity of which is such as to causeltar to separate therefrom." V

8. A process of purifyinggenerator, gas

which comprises washingthe gasrwith'an' alkaline absorbent liquid to remove tarand 7 I volatile impurities,separatingtar from the liquid, regenerating the liquid, and return:

' ing it to contact, with the flowing gas. q 7

9. Apparatus for purifying generator gas which comprises a wash box, a recirculating tank provided with a compartment having a I plurality ofbafiles for causing the'deposition V I of tarry matter, and a compartment pro- 1 vided with aeration means; and meansifor recirculating an absorbent liquid through 'acycle consisting of said wash-box and said re-v I circulating tank. y 7 V V 10. In combinatlon, a water gas genera-.

tor, a tar batter in the path of the water gas from the generator,- aeration (means and means for recirculating an absorptiveliquid through-a cycle comprising said tar batter,

and said aeration means. I r V r s is 11. In combmation, as water gas generator,

i a tar batter in the path of-the water gas from 7 the generator, aeration means, means for re-f circulating an absorptive: liquid through a' 

